I’ve probably played Greensboro National Golf Club more than any other course in the Triad.
With good reason. It’s a fun, but challenging course. The routing is interesting, rolling over lakes and hills with a variety of holes. The course is consistently in good condition, largely thanks to superintendent Vincente Hernandez, who has been there since 1998.
And it’s fair. The bent greens have undulations and are relatively fast, but they aren’t extreme. If you’re above the hole, you don’t have to worry that a putt that barely gets to the hole will trickle off the green. The fairways are relatively generous.
Plus, it’s close to home, and there’s usually open tee times for solo play on weekday afternoons. On weekdays, rack rates are $67 until 2:30 p.m., then $60 afterwards. Seniors pay $60 and $54. Friday rates are $72 and $65. Saturday, Sunday and holidays are $79 and $72. This year, 12-hole rates were added — No. 12 green is near the clubhouse. Some memberships are available.
I played at Greensboro National last week. I’d heard some rumors about some facility improvements. When I asked, I was told the owners weren’t yet ready to make any announcements. But stay tuned.
The course has an interesting history. Don and Mark Charles, who designed and built Olde Homeplace in Winston-Salem, were the design and construction team at Greensboro National. Rumor has it that a house that sits above the seventh green served as a secluded hideaway for John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe.
The course stretches inside a small community on the south side of N.C. 158, about halfway between U.S. 220 (Battleground Avenue, U.S. 73) and Reidsville.
Opened in 1995, Greensboro National is a modern, championship-level layout. Though the course has greenside bunkers and a few strategic fairway bunkers, balls can be rolled onto the greens on most of the holes, particularly long par-4s. Water comes into play on 12 holes. The par-3s, especially Nos. 4, 11 and 16, are long and difficult.
The 6,900-yard, par-72 course — six other tees range from 6,600 to 4,800 yards opens with a wide-open, modest-length par-4 that allows for a comfortable start, though the approach must carry a creek to the green. From the tips, the course rating is 72.6 with a 137 slope.
Nos. 5, 6 and 7 offers a particularly interesting stretch beginning with a downhill, long par-4, followed by a bending par-5 that climbs a steep hill. The par-4 seventh features a downhill, right-to-left drive toward a target bunker on the right, then a short approach over water to a treacherous green with a false front rejecting approaches into the water.
Favorites on the back nine include No. 13, a long par-4 with the landing area guarded by bunkers on the right, leaving a long downhill approach to a green open in the front and framed by the large lake that’s a centerpiece on Nos. 9 and 18.
At the par-5 18th, players face a carry over the lake on the tee shot to an uphill fairway that doglegs to the right for the approach. The uphill landing area and the turn right makes getting home in two possible only for long hitters. The huge undulating green is especially difficult when the pin is tucked in the back-right corner that drops off sharply into high grass.
Current facilities at Greensboro National include a large practice range and a big practice green near the clubhouse. The carts have GPS. Upscale bar food and drinks are available in the Greensboro National Tavern, which looks out over the ninth hole and putting green.
During the fall, Greensboro National is home to an annual First Responders of the Triad benefit tournament. The 2025 tournament raised about $200,000 for local first responder organizations and Tunnel to Towers.
